Mass Effect : Broken Alliance
by hiddenintherubble
Summary: Mass Effect Broken Alliance takes place during Mass Effect 2 right at the end of Haestrom mission(mission with Tali collecting data on a dying red giant). Not everyone believes Shepard is Shepard. After all, she did burn up upon arrival on planet Alchera. Would allies so quickly accept her return? Rated MA
1. Chapter 1

I hit the ground hard, Kaiden Alenko, current... former lover, stood above me pistol in his left hand and a Warp bubble around his right. I spit the blood out of my mouth, which has had an interesting taste since I was rebuilt; more on that later.

" The Alliance hasn't trusted you since Cerberus put you back together from spare parts of the real Shephard." Kaiden said, his handsome face smiling down on me, black hair sweat soaked and out of place.

" Everyone always said you were boring, an Alliance puppet with one layer of interest. I always thought there might be more." I smiled with bloody teeth.

Kaiden frowned at me, " You aren't the Shephard I loved. You're just a puppet!"

" I guess Alliance Assassin adds a few layers. Figured you as more of an ass kisser secretary to some Admiral personally." I laughed at my own wit before getting kicked in face.

Purple bangs swayed in my face, my vision was blurry from the prior battle. We had just sent Tali off on the shuttle back to her ship of Quarians. The scorching sun put us in a small ring when Kaiden ambushed us. As we began to radio down for a pick up Miranda got blasted into the sun by a Biotic Warp, then slammed repeatedly onto the ground. Unconscious and no one to recover her, Miranda's body burned away in the ultra-hot sun rays. Before we knew what had happened, I was thrown up about 20 feet in to the sun and onto walk way along the wall. Luckily the walkway had a three foot solid rock guard rail and I scurried into the shadows, my shielding almost completely gone. Hearing crashes and Jack yelling obscenities I recovered as fast as possible to move along the guard rail and towards a ramp almost completely in the shade.

Kaiden had become very powerful since our last meeting, he was going blow for blow with Jack, one of the most powerful human Biotics... aside from me. I sent a message up to the Normandy to get the hell out of here, if Kaiden was here so was the Alliance. Looking into the atmosphere-less sky, I saw an Alliance Dreadnaught appear a few hundred miles from my ship. There was nothing more I could do but hope my message went through.

Looking back at the fight, Kaiden had shot Jacks in the right shoulder and left leg effectively putting her out of commission. Jack screamed at him some shit about not being beat by some Alliance scrub. Kaiden stared at her with no emotion, Pulled her up and Pushed her off the side of the cliff. I couldn't believe it. Kaiden had transformed into something else entirely since he had been a part of my crew and attracted me to him.

I sent a Shockwave down, Kaiden looked… shocked. Apparently he thought I'd be as easy to dispatch as my last two team members, I guess to be fair, I did almost die. Leaping over the side of my cover and falling twenty feet, I used a push to stop my decent and began firing my assault rifle at him.

He boosted his barrier and sent a warp at me. Rolling to the side, I shot a few more times then sent a Singularity at him. The field of mass effect energy opened up and I saw Kaiden try to fight the pull but was ripped off the ground. As he floated helplessly around the Mass Effect bubble. I sent a Push at him followed by some assault rifle rounds. He flew towards the edge of a shadow used his own Push to stop himself as his Barrier soaked up my rifle rounds. Landing on his side, Kaiden struggled to get to his feet and recover.

Feeling victorious as I sent a Shockwave at him, I carelessly walked towards him. Unfortunately, the Shockwave sent him tumbling perfectly to his feet. He looked surprised for a moment then smiled and sent a green blast at me. Perplexed by what just happened I didn't have time to react to his follow up. It hit me and I knew I was screwed, I'd been hit by it only a few times before, somehow Kaiden had learned the ability Stasis. Kaiden then shot me in the legs and used Slam on me and that's about where we are right noe.

Spitting blood again I looked back up at him, " Your outta shape, I've been kicked harder by a Hanar."

Kaiden frowned and shook his head, " The great Shephard defeated by me, you can't be the real her."

" Well we did just fight a whole Company of Geth and a Goliath... in temperatures that make the Sahara seem like a winter retreat... before you sauntered onto the field fresh from your temperature controlled shuttle." I cackled, " But you just go right ahead and juxtapose your version of events onto the situation."

Kaiden grinned, " You did get her mouth though." He lifted his right hand, Warp field glistening brightly, "In her honor, I'll put you dow- ARGH!"

Slamming my knife into his calf, his Warp field shot into the sky. Removing my knife I used my Lift ability to throw myself at a 60 degree angle, sliding my knife across the weak part of his armor over his rib cage as I passed. When I crashed near the metal door Tali had been behind, I looked over to see Kaiden holding his ribs, which to my satisfaction glistened red, and was limping towards his pistol which I must have knocked from his hand on my passing. I forced myself to stand, sliding up a wall and resisting my muscles instinctive reaction to cave to pain of having some nice sized pistol holes in each. My head throbbed with pain, well hell my whole body throbbed after some of the flying around I'd done, but using another Biotic ability was going to hurt.

I hated to do it, but I had learned my own special ability. Kaiden had been one of the only people I'd ever opened up too. I had loved him and he me, however he had convinced himself I was not actually me. Hell some days I wondered the same thing. I'd taken him on many missions and he'd killed then too, but there was a carelessness, an ease to his killing of Miranda and Jack that told me a lot about the man he'd become in the last two years. Maybe that's how he saw me as well, I don't know, but I wasn't going out in a flash of remorseful passion. He chose this mission so he chose to live... or die with the consequences.

My head felt like it was going to explode as I formed a purple bubble around my hand. Kaiden had just recovered when I lobbed the purple pulsating orb at him. His eyes lit with shock as he reacquired me in his sights just in time to get hit with Reave. It was a little harder than I had thought to watch him convulse in pain and almost sadistically romantic as his barriers energy drained and his pain transferred to me as energy and power.

All of my pain was gone and I was able to move again. I sprinted towards a door, opened it and shot the controls after it closed. I had a feeling Kaiden had survived Reave, but doubted he'd be pursuing me. He chose a very volatile place to attack me and was now in pretty bad shape. If he could make it to his shuttle I'm sure he'd survive. I also knew that as soon as Kaiden reported failing to kill me, which would be anywhere between a minute to five minutes, that Dreadnaught was going to rain down some hell on the area.

The effects of Reave were wearing off and I was beginning to slow down, now very aware of how much pain deadening had happened by the ability, I hit my Omni tool and injected myself with some healing Gel. It didn't give me an energy boost, but I felt a hell of a lot better. It appeared wherever I had run I hadn't been here before. This must have been some sort of mine entrance. I hope my luck kept going, if I could get deeper I could escape what was to come.

As I jogged down into the darkness my suit light kicked on. I saw an elevator shaft with a metal wire dangling down for as far as my light would show. I stared into the abyss for a moment, ah hell I wasn't deep enough right now to avoid the explosions, I was dead if I didn't slide down this thing. I ran and jumped, grabbing onto the wire and began sliding down. My suits material protected me from the friction burn one would usually experience when sliding down metal using their body. As I fell deeper into the abyss the air began to feel cold, moist even, it was a welcome temperature change for sure. I slid down the wire for what felt like 2 minutes when finally I could see ground. I hit hard and rolled, damn my legs hurt.

I wandered down a tunnel and it opened up into a cavern. When looking up, it looked like solid rock above me, which was a very good thing. I saw a metal processing bunker and ran into it, slamming the door closed behind. Now all I could do is wait.

I had no idea what had happened to Normandy. As I fell against a wall the exhaustion set in. Even in my suit I was soaked in sweat and blood. I touched a pocket and felt something other than ammo in it. It was a transponder, Garrus had given it to me, told me if I ever got myself into something I couldn't handle by myself, to activate it. Holy shit, if it worked... and he was alive it was my one way out of this hell hole. If I could depend on anyone, it was Garrus.

Hitting the button a blue light flashed. I watched it for a few seconds when I felt a large thud. Yep, quarantining the site. That's right you bastards, you better try your best to scrub me out, because if I get out of here...well hell hath no fury like a Shepards scorn. A few more thuds hit and things started shaking a bit, rocks hitting the roof of my metal box. I was pretty sure there would be a crater for miles, if the bombing hadn't stopped when it did I was sure I was going to be dead.

The rumbling subsided, but now I was concerned about all that solid rock that had made me so happy a few minutes ago. I was tempted to go to the door and look out but my body wouldn't respond to my commands of getting up so I laid there. I guess on a positive note the metal shack didn't turn into an oven to turn me into roast Shepard, so I could at least assume that the bombardment had not breached the mining cavern. Hopefully they wouldn't do what I would do, which would be to send in a cleanup crew to make sure I was dead. I grabbed my sub-machine gun and heavy pistol and laid them on either side of me, if the Alliance nannies did come, I would put up a hell of a fight.


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke to someone shaking me, I grabbed for my pistol but felt it forced from my hand, so much for that hell of a fight, hahaha... did I just laugh at myself?

" Shepard... Shepard... LACEY!" The voice of someone familiar broke through my senses, a distorted, gruff voice. Opening my eyes slowly, I saw the scarred face of my best friend.

" Garrus?" Even I was surprised at how tired that sounded. My eyes hurt.

" Shepard! Ha ha, even an Eezo bombardment can't kill you huh?... Hey stay awake now."

Forcing my eyes open, they stung. I glanced around, everything was blurry, dusty. Behind the disgruntled Garrus another familiar silhouette appeared.

" Shepard, Keela, I can't believe you are alive," Her tone suddenly changed to urgency, " Garrus, pick her up, we need to get her to the shuttle!"

Garrus put his arms around me, but I wriggled weakly, " Hell if anyone is carrying me off into the sun set."

Every muscle in my body felt like it was ripping from bone as I forced myself, slowly, to my feet. Spectre Shepard moved on her own power. Garrus' face was that of surprise, but he smiled anyway.

" You're as tough as a Dreadnaught, Shepard."

" I'll get back to you on that." I managed to get out as I stumbled into Garrus, who caught me instinctively.

" I don't know any Dreadnaught that could survive an Eezo bombardment like that and move on it's own power." Garrus grinned sharply while he righted my stumble.

Tali stared at us for a second blinking(I always liked how they glowed behind her mask), " We need to get to that shuttle, NOW!"

Garrus helped me out of the metal shed into the cavity of the cave that protected me from certain annihilation. A shuttle waited only a hundred feet from where I was, then it hit me, the transponder. Well I guess I'm just the luckiest woman in the galaxy right now.

" Um, the cave is destabilizing above us Garrus." Tali said hanging out of the open shuttle door(When did she get in the shuttle?), " Which means please move faster."

Garrus glanced down at me before pulling me off my feet and sprinting us to the shuttle. Maybe it wasn't so bad to be rescued by a handsome... when did I start thinking a turian could look handsome? Before I could dig deeper into my thoughts we were leaping into the shuttle. Tali signaled the pilot and the shuttle jerked up and began it's decent. Garrus held me in his lap. I got a good look at the fact that the cave had not completely held out and a hole a little bigger than the shuttle existed at it's roof.

As we exited the cavern the cave collapsed violently in on itself. As I had suspected, the bombardment had left a crater miles long. It was humbling to see it from above as we lifted into the sky. Suddenly nothing else mattered as I felt fingers run through my matted, bloody hair. I glanced up and Garrus was staring out of the shuttle door absent minded, but his hand were running through my hair. My eyes fluttered and closed.

" Shh, shh, open your eyes slowly." A voice said.

Instead my eyes shot open and I regretted it immediately, however I looked around against the pain. It was cool and dim in the room I now laid. Steel bulk heads and the hum of engines told me I was on board a ship. Clenching my eyes closed to get relief I slowly regained my awareness. My fight with Kaiden and escape. Being rescued by Tali and Garrus on the planet before the mining cave fell in on itself after an Alliance Eezo bombardment to kill me. I opened my eyes again and peared around. The walls were not smooth and shiny like the Normandy's, so I must be on another vessel. As the voice and person matched up to Tali, I assumed I was on her ship.

" It's me, Tali." I always liked her voice and accent.

" Hey there... how long was I out?" I asked blinking a few times to focus on Tali.

Tali laughed, " Only an hour, looks like you got all your sleep back in that cavern."

I felt drowsier than that, " How long was I asleep in the cavern?"

Tali looked at her Omni tool, " Well if you fell asleep around the same time as Garrus' beacon went off..." She tapped a few buttons, " About 10 hours."

Well that was a surprise, " So hows my legs... doc?"

Tali walked over and pulled the sheet back. I had been stripped to my under armor, which looked like a black leotard wetsuit with red accents and a short rounded collar, crossed with armor. Adds extra protection to the core and neck while still allowing full mobility of the arms and legs. It of course had an N7 insignia over the heart.

The gun shots in my thighs had almost completely healed. What wasn't had been filled in with medigel. There wasn't much they could do for the bruises and cuts that was decorated my pale skin, I could only imagine what my midsection looked like.

" So how did those thermal round wounds in your thighs heal in just 10 hours?" Tali asked with a bit of suspicion in her voice.

" New secret weapon Kaiden didn't see coming." I replied rubbing my shoulders and sitting up slowly, yep definitely a bruised rip cage, maybe even cracked.

I didn't notice right away, with most of my effort focused on sitting up and swinging my legs off the table, but Tali was staring at me... with confusion I would guess.

" Kaiden? Are you joking?" She finally managed to ask.

" Yeah, I didn't see that coming either." I hopped off the table with a grunt, didn't expect to be so stiff.

Tali hesitated and set her hand on my shoulder, " Shepard, I am so sorry."

I turned to respond to her but the medical bay door slid open. It was much louder than the sliding doors on Alliance vessel, yes, it startled me.

Garrus strolled in, stopped when he saw I was standing and then smiled that arrogant smile he had, " Commander, good to see you're up and moving. Took a pretty long nap on us in that shed, is the captains bed really that stiff on a Cerberus ship too?"

His faux taunting made me smile, " I dunno Garrus..." I put on my best faux overly seductive face I could muster being half beaten to death, " You could always come up and help me soften it out."

" I uh... um." It was the first time I'd seen Garrus genuinely uncomfortable, and this man took a rocket to the face. I heard Tali giggle to my right and I think I saw Garrus' plates go red. He coughed and blinked a few times, then said sincerely, " I'm sorry about Jack and Miranda."

Way to bring me back to reality, just thrust it in... ehm, anyways admittedly Miranda and Jack were not personally some of my favorite people, but they were my crew and damn capable. I suddenly felt very full of homicidal rage, " Don't worry, we'll make Kaiden and the Alliance pay for it."

Garrus again looked confused and glanced at Tali. I forgot that they hadn't been there. I'm grateful, they may not be here with me now and I might still be in that cave. During the Geth conflict and the Sovereign Incident these two were my number one team. They are my two best friends and most capable squad I have worked with. We may have stood a better chance of defeating Kaiden, but I'm not sure all of us would have made it through the Eezo bombardment. I am not happy Miranda and Jack died, but I'm happy it wasn't these two.

" Sorry Garrus, I'm still a little out of it. I'll fill you in to Tali. Kaiden ambushed us after Tali launched. He killed Miranda first, throwing her into the sun and using biotic Slams on her until she was unconscious in direct sunlight. Jack put up a fight, but Kaiden has gotten a lot more capable since we last met. He was cold when he threw her over the side of a cliff." I paused and the gravity of the situation sunk in, " If he hadn't been in such a hurry he probably would have been able to kill me too. I was thrown into the air about twenty feet, but landed on a service walk way with a ledge to shield me from the radiation."

Tali chimed in, " You three took down a whole company of Geth and a Goliath in a very hostile environment. Kaiden may have grown more capable, but he ambushed you three after all that. He was a coward."

Garrus set his hand on my shoulder, " Shepard, she's right. No matter how powerful you three are, with that amount of combat fatigue, exposure to radiation and heat it would have been taxing on anyone. He sat and waited for the best time to strike. He is a coward!" Garrus turned and clenched his hands into fists, "And worse he's a traitor!"

I knew they were right, Tali pretty much said word for word what I said to Kaiden on the planet, still isn't easy to accept defeat. I don't lose crew members often, especially to former squad members.

" With the amount of injuries you sustained, it sounds like you went a second round with him Shepard." Tali said.

" I was making my way back down to him when he killed Jack. We engaged in a very hectic battle." I chuckled, " He thought he had me," I tapped my thighs, " He told me that the Alliance did not believe it was really me and that he agreed." Tali seemed upset by that, they both knew I had been in a relationship with him, " They had sent him to kill me and the Dreadnaught to clean up the mess, but I surprised him, stabbed him then used my biotics to make a tactical retreat." I smiled again, " I don't think he was in any condition to follow me."

" Do you think he is dead?" Tali asked stepping closer to me.

" No." I shook my head, " The immediacy of the Eezo bombardment confirmed that. Kaiden would have had to radio in that he failed."

" I wish I'd have been there with you Shepard. I would have taken him out as he crawled his treacherous ass back into his shuttle." The cold calm fury was very fitting of Garrus. I believed him.

" Garrus, what happened to the Normandy? I assume since you are here it survived the pursuit by dreadnaught."

Garrus' mandibles twitched for a second, then he unclenched his fists and faced me again, " They are a few systems away at the moment. The Normandy was to damn fast for the Dreadnaught, but that also means they know we are still out here."

" Joker's a hell of a pilot." I said with pride, leaning against the cold steel bulk head, " The Alliance will assume I am dead." The two nodded in agreement, " Let's try to keep that top secret until we're prepared to declassify that info. What does Cerberus know?"

" I'm not sure, he probably knows of the Alliance strike and that they assume they killed you." Garrus folded his arms and leaned against an adjacent bulkhead and shook his head, "He probably didn't know that Miranda was dead."

" Didn't?" I cocked my head at him.

" As soon as I got the transponder S.O.S. I told Joker to turn around and find the Quarian vessel. When Tali and I told her you were still alive she immediately agreed to take me back to find you." Tali smiled at me, Garrus pushed off the wall and continued ," If the Illusive Man tried to contact Miranda... well we know that it wouldn't get answered. I left shortly after the Eezo strike and he hadn't contacted Jacob yet, but it's been over 10 hours. Either the Illusive Man contacted Jacob or Jacob contacted him. We've decided to only contact them via com buoy when you awoke."

I pushed off the wall and stretched my arms, which hurt, " Thank you... both of you. You two have always been my closest friends and most capable allies. If it hadn't been for you two I'd be trying to dig out of a ton of rock."

Garrus nodded and grinned, Tali came up and hugged me, " I'm so glad we found you Lacey. You saved me so many times, I'm glad I could repay the favor at least once."

" I'm glad you were here Tali." We embraced for a moment longer and parted. " So I assume we left system already?"

" Back to Commander already. Ha, first thing we did, we've jumped to the Horse Nebula." Garrus had his hands behind his back standing tall. He had gained so much more authority since I'd met him on the Citadel, a young frustrated C-sec detective to my next choice of 1st officer.

" I'll go up front and send an encrypted message to the Normandy. Garrus told me that they should be expecting us." Tali turned and left the room.

" Well Shepard I'll be up front with Tali... calibrating some weapons... if this ship even has any." Garrus turned to leave but I interrupted his exit.

" I liked it better when you called me Lacey..." his shoulders stiffened, " And when you brushed your hands through my hair."

I could see Garrus' mandibles twitch even from behind and there was a long silence before he finally replied looking over his shoulder, " We may want to talk about this later... I know the perfect place on the Citadel, Lacey." His grin was wide as he finished.

" I'll hold you to that, Vakarian." I said with my own wolfish grin.

" In the meantime Shepard maybe you should get a shower." Garrus snickered, " I can smell you from here."

I looked around and shrugged, " Do Quarians even have showers?!"

As he was walking out of the Med bay he replied, " I sure hope so Shepard."


	3. Chapter 3

Turns out Qaurians don't have showers built in, but most of the ships they buy usually already have them. Tali had one of her men route a water pipe back to the faucet. I had gathered all my armor to the make shift bathroom and peeled off my under armor. I was an N7 soldier, so bruises, bullet wounds and cuts were a norm, but aside from actually dieing in a ball of fire, this may have been one of the worst I've looked in a long time. The biotic acrobatics left their mark on my shoulders and hips. My right rib cage, where I'd been slammed and subsequently kicked, were dark blue and yellow. My head had also taken a beating from being thrown twenty feet up and into a cement landing.

My elbows and knees, outside of being a little sore from running and jumping around in the prior battle with the Geth, somehow managed to not take the brunt of the battle.

Reave; I had used it on enemy's before but never in the shape I was in. When used it is rather Malevolent. The pain it reeks on others gives you strength, energy and helps your body rejuvenate. Though it helps heal wounds, it is only a quick bandage of sorts. The wound heals to a basic level of recovery most times. For instance my legs appear to be healed almost fully, but if the medigel had not been applied and I attempted to sprint the wound would have a good chance of ripping back open. Same for cracked or broken bone, it helps bond the bone but get tackled and it may rebreak.

Once I was done surveying my battle wounds I turned the water on. Stepping in, it was surprisingly not freezing but a lukewarm. Dark brown washed over my body as the blood rinsed from my hair. Dr. Chakwas gave Garrus a kit to take with him before he rushed off ship. Thank God for that woman, she managed to pack medigel, bandages, pain killers, anti bio-tics and most importantly soap(I wonder if she would have packed soap for a male version of me). After a thorough washing of body and wounds and several curse words later I was out of the shower. It amazes me how much better you can feel after one of those things.

Tali supplied me with a suit cleaning agent for my Under and Outer Armor. I cleaned both using the cleaning agent and the shower, then while giving my armor some time to dry, I placed a few bandages on myself, pulled my long purple hair into a pony tail and suited up. It felt good to be back in my armor, not exactly standard issue Alliance. Being a Spectre I could wear whatever armor I chose, which in my case was armor pieces that optimized my biotics. The armor was colored in chrome Crimson and Violet. Slipping my head piece on, an orange visor slid over my silver eyes. It left most of my head but the visor gave me a wide variety of battle field specs, including zoom capability and showed stats on my own armor, biotic and health.

Most people knew who I was just by my stepping into their office or place of business due to my signature armor set up. It worked to my advantage most times, but sometimes provoked a shoot first ask questions later response. That was my favorite response.

I entered the bridge of the ship, Tali, Garrus and few quarian crew were there, " Get in touch with them?"

" Yes we are rendezvousing with them soon." Garrus replied, tapping controls on a console left of the pilots.

" Found some weapons to calibrate?" I asked with a laugh.

" Always weapons need calibrating." Garrus replied smiling.

A Qaurian crew member chimed in, " Our weapons have never been so accurate. We could hit a needle floating out there at a miles distance."

" Well he spends enough time doing this, I'd hope he'd be a pro at it." I replied.

" Mark of a good sniper Shepard. Maybe you should let me look at your scopes sometime." Garrus chidded.

I formed a warp bubble around my hand, " If I miss I have this."

" If you miss, I won't."

We grinned at each other, a voice came over the intercom, " Normandy to Tali, we are approaching... how's the Commander?"

" I'm fine Joker! We read you loud and clear, ready to intercept."

The Normandy burst out of the FTL in front of us, it had been less than a day, but I was glad to see her.

" Tali I appreciate everything you and your crew have done." I hugged her, " You know your always welcome to accompany us on the Normandy. I may need your help in the future."

" Maybe after I bring my information back to the Fleet. But for now I cannot." She said as we parted.

" I understand." I turned to my partner and signaled him to follow, "Garrus lets jump ship."

" Yes ma'am!"

Our shuttle flew into the bay of the Normandy, it felt great to be aboard my ship with my crew. As I looked around, I saw her in new light. This was a beacon of rebellion now. Against the Alliance, against Cerberus, against the Council and against the Reapers.

" Battle Master!" A familiar Krogan voice broke my concentration.

" Grunt!"

The very unique and smooth(by comparison to the rest of his race) walked up to Garrus and I. He grabbed my hand and I jumped forward. We bounced off of each others stomachs, which hurt a great deal considering my condition, but I did not dare let it show.

" Turian, you did well in retrieving Shepard. Perhaps your race isn't as soft as I thought." Grunt grinned and hmphed at Garrus.

" My race doesn't get credit for my accomplishments." Garrus replied smiling.

" Fair enough Tur—Garrus."

We all laughed for a moment and I realized that we three enjoyed a bond that the rest of the crew didn't. Garrus, Grunt and I were warriors to the core.

" So what's next Shepard?" Garrus asked placing his hand on my shoulder. I noticed Grunt glanced at his hand for a moment.

" Gather the crew in the meeting room, it's time we discuss what's happened and our plans from here on." Grunt saluted and jogged towards the elevator, Garrus however stayed.

" You've already got a plan Lacey, really?" He used my first name again, it felt very nice to hear, and as he asked his tone and face showed surprise and concern.

I smiled at him, " Come on Garrus, I've always got a plan."

His mandibles moved slightly a few times then he nodded and walked towards the elevator. After the door closed Jokers voice came over the come in the shuttle bay.

" Commander, it's damn good to have you back! Thought you crooked on us back there." His voice had the usual sarcastic bite.

Usually I would correct him on his addressing my possible demise so lightly, but instead I just laughed, harder than I thought, " Glad you kept the Normandy hot and ready for me to jump back in."

" Always Commander!"

Reaching the elevator I took it up to the navigation section of the ship and made a b-line for the meeting room. The silver metal meshed with the oak wooden table top of the meeting room. I walked to the back half of the room and sat in the high backed black leather chair that sat at my head of the table.

The crew slowly piled in, Jacob, Mordin, Kasumi, Zaeed, Samara, Thane, Grunt and Garrus. When Jacob entered I could see he wanted to burst into question, but Jacob was a good soldier and knew not to. I waited a moment, all eyes on me, then stood... shouldn't have sat down.

" No doubt you are all surprised by what happened and eager to hear what happened. It's still crazy to think about but here it is."

It took a few minutes and surprisingly not one crew member interrupted the story, even Mordin just listened and took it in.

" Jacob, I am sorry, I know you and Miranda were close. She was a good Officer, hell of a tactician and a good biotic."

" Thanks Commander..." Jacob replied, but his posture wasn't as still it usually was.

" And the Alliance calls mercs cold hearted." Zaeed just shook his head.

" Curious, they really thought one man and one Dreadnaught could take you and the Normandy out." Mordin was rubbing his chin with those long fingers of his.

" The Alliance has always been arrogant." Kasumi chimed in, " It's no surprise if they thought Lacey was fake, they no doubt didn't believe she or the Normandy's crew were as capable."

" It is credit to Shepard that she was able to defeat Kaiden. His tactic was sound. Surprise attack after a long mission, with a long fight in harrowing conditions." Jacob and especially Garrus seemed to be irritated by Thanes analysis of Kaidens strategy, he continued unaffected by their looks. "Not to mention Biotics would be a bit more susceptible to the heat after using their powers during prolonged periods of time. Kaiden did not fail as an assassin, Shepard proved her ferocity in battle."

" It was a cowardly attack, a true warrior attacks from the front, head on and if he dies, he dies with some sort of honor." Grunt interjected.

" Agreed." Garrus and Jacob almost said in unison.

Thane tilted his head, "Not all Warriors are Assassins, but all Assassins are Warriors. Cowardly may be a fair argument, cerebral a counter. That being said, not all Assassins are traitors."

There was silence for a moment when finally Samara spoke, " So Commander, no doubt you called us here to tell us how this affects our original goal of taking out the Collectors."

" Yes." I took a deep breath and begun, "Our priorities may need some re-arranging. This was a direct assault on us. The Alliance's only objective was to erase us, they may have sent a hitman after me, but that Dreadnought was there to destroy the Normandy and make sure I never left that hellish planet." I paused and stared Jacob in the eyes, "Anyone who is considered an ally that knew about this and some that aren't allies will pay dearly. Not for their single attempt on my life, but also those who were lost in the struggle and the planned attack on you. They won't stop, so we need to hit first and as hard as possible."

I started pacing again, "I'm not black ops operative, but I know we have some experts here. Any and all footage of Kaiden that was captured via body cams or the Dreadnought glassing the planet where I was needs to be salvaged and put together. We need to launch it on the net before we destroy an Alliance Dreadnought. It's needs to be painted in a way that portrays this as a Rogue Alliance sect that is trying to shut up me, an Alliance hero."

I stopped and looked over my crew, "Who here thinks they are best suited to do that?" I saw Mordin smirk and he started rubbing his hands together in a giddy fashion, Thane simply nodded and Kasumi's eyes glistened under her hood, "Excellent, who thinks they can track down the Dreadnoughts current whereabouts?"

"I would be glad to assist Shepard." Samara responded in her emotionless and level voice.

"I'd be glad to hunt them down, taking down a Dreadnought is one thing I haven't done." Zaeed laughed and sheathed his large laser edged machete.

"I have no problem taking down some dirty Alliance Commander." Jacob added, arms folded as he leaned against the railing to my left. His cool demeanor only betrayed by his jaw muscles flexing as he gritted his teeth. He wanted revenge for Miranda.

I nodded in approval, "Good, and thank you for your willingness to assist. No one will stop us from fighting the Reapers, even if it is a Dreadnought in between us and them. Those who took from us two team members will burn in a fiery fury of our wrath. We've got some of the smartest, deadliest and strongest members in the galaxy here on this ship."

I saw Garrus and Grunt looking at me with the desire to be part of this, "Don't worry boys," they shifted excitedly as I addressed them, "You're with me. Remember how I said anyone that knew? Well we have a hologram to interrogate. Squad dismissed, EDI, call our generous backer would you."

As the team slowly filtered out of the meeting room, Grunt and Garrus flanked me as an orange hologram began to form.

"Shepard."

"Illusive man, I've got some very important questions for you."


	4. Chapter 4

The Illusive man's orange hologram appeared as it mostly did, sitting in a chair with a cigarette. Even sitting, his pompous authority was displayed, "I'm gonna get to the point now. Did you know we were going to be ambushed by the Alliance!?" I was even surprised how hard I was speaking through gritted teeth. Grunt rolled his neck, making that odd deep popping sound only Krogan joints could produce. Garrus stood militarily calm at rest, arms behind his back and feet spread about a foot apart.

The Illusive man's orange glowing eyes observed it all in calmly, then took a cool drag from his cigarette, "I see what you are doing here, it's not necessary. The immediate answer is no."

My face flushed with anger, "Like you didn't know the Collector ship was still active!?"

The Illusive man stood slowly, "I knew about the Collectors still being on that ship Shepard, I chose not to tell you. When asked, I confessed to the knowledge." He took a sharp puff from his cigarette, then exhaled slowly, "I had no idea about this operation, which is very displeasing to me." His hologram turned and gazed at something we could not see, his back facing us, "Shepard, do you honestly think I would have sacrificed my best operative to The Alliance?"

He hadn't decided to hide the bite of anger in his voice. He definitely wasn't talking about me, he was talking about Miranda. I wanted to say, 'Sorry for your loss', but I knew he would come back with something like, 'We all know the risks'. So instead I antagonized him, "How could you not know about this?"

His shoulders stiffened for only a moment, "Shepard, I have an unrivaled network and database of the Galaxies darkest secrets. Irregardless, there are things that slip through the microscopic holes in my net."

Humility? Miranda must have actually meant something to him personally, so time to get to the point, "I'm going after the bastards who are responsible and I'm going to rain hell down on them. We're already devising a propaganda campaign to smear The Alliance with. They'll be scrambling to justify their assault on a famed Alliance soldier, first human Specter, and then try to cover up the destruction we have wrought in killing Kaidan and blowing their Dreadnought to pieces."

The Illusive man took a slow, long drag again, then turned to face us, "I would hate for humanity to lose a Dreadnought with the Reaper threat looming. This not coming across my radar means it is a very isolated operation and group of The Alliance who decided to launch this attack individually of the upper chain of command."

I marched forward and thrust my fists down, "If we don't stop them, they are going to keep coming after us. It will slow us down, and the time they have already wasted is too much. We're going to send them a very clear message, do not pursue this, you have a lot more to lose than gain."

The hologram returned to his chair and put the cigarette out, "I would like to discourage the total destruction of that ship. By all means, kill everyone you need to to make your message loud and clear, but a Dreadnought loss would be a catastrophic setback for humanities strength." I started to argue, but he dropped his head a bit to the left closing his eyes and held up a hand, "But, I trust your judgement Shepard. Do what you need to do to make sure our mission remains unimpeded any further."

"I will take your recommendation under advisement. Shepard out."

"Good lu-" I disconnected the transmission before he could finish his sentence.

"I don't like him anymore than you do Shepard, but his advice is sound." Garrus said, his mandibles twitching in thought, "Dreadnoughts take immense resources and time to build. They are an awesome increase military might. With the Reapers so close, I think we should consider narrowing our sights to the people responsible for this attack."

Grunt, well, let out a grunt, "Turians; They always want to do things so precisely. I say kill and blow up anyone and everything involved we can. Your idea about sending an undeniable message is dead on."

Garrus and Grunt, the embodiment of my conflicted thoughts, whoa that's scary. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed, "We've got some time, I'll make that decision when the entire picture is painted."

"Whatever you wish Battle Master, I'm happy either way. As long as I get to bash in some skulls." As he started leaving the conference room, he stopped, peering over his shoulder with a grin, "Blowing up a Dreadnought would be fun though."

With that said, Grunt exited the room, doors slighting closed behind him. I turned, wincing a bit in pain and leaned on the railing of the conference table, "EDI, pull all known data on Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko since the destruction of the original Normandy until now."

The blue holographic 'thinking' orb popped up and replied, "Gathering Shepard... ... Done. Let me know when you would like me to present the information gathered."

"Lacey," Garrus said softly as he walked up beside me, placing a hand on my armored shoulder, "I'm all for hard charging this until it's over, but I can handle this." He touched a few touch buttons on the black glass that lined the table, "Go get some shut eye. I know, I know, you can sleep when you're dead, but seriously you need to be well rested for the task at hand. It will take a few hours for everyone to get the tasks you've assigned done."

My first instinct was to buck against him and tell him to go calibrate the damn guns… but I had to admit, I was feeling the last 24 hours. While sleep wouldn't heal my ribs or bruises any faster, it would help keep my mind sharpen up.

"Thank you Garrus, I appreciate it." I laughed, "I guess when the guy who took a rocket to the face tells you to rest, it's probably a good idea to listen."

"That's right Shepard, even I had to take a little nap after that, but only a tiny one."

I removed the data orange visor, cool air felt good on the exposed skin, "Message me as soon as there is an update."

"Yes Ma'am!" Garrus replied, with a snappy salute to nothing as he continued to look over the files EDI had already gathered.

"Smart ass." I grumbled as I left the room. With everything set in motion, I headed up to my captains suite to take an arguably deserved nap. The suite was slightly nicer than Normandy 1.0.

The elevator opened and the soft blue hue of the fish tank lit the room. Walking forward, my favorite music started to play, "EDI. Silence"

"Silenced Shepard."

I could hear the bubbles from the fish tank and the low hum of the engine core. I walked through towards the bed, passing my office space, which had numerous space ship models in two glass cases surrounding my computer. A bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink behind it. Passed the office awaited my armor equip station, bed and conference furniture.

It was luxury beyond what I was used to for sure; A military cot in the core of a ship for 14 years. The large square coffee table was surrounded by a black leather sectional, one section sitting in front of a glass case with the model ships and two short black leather chairs. At the back of the suite was a king sized bed fitted in black silk. Above the bed, super thick glass that let you gaze into the stars.

I removed all my armor and sub-armor. The cool are gave me goose bumps, so I slid into my bed. The material kissed my body and warmed me instantly. I intended, despite Garrus' efforts, to research Kaidan on my own in bed, but the soft bed and luxury seats got the best of my exhaustion. I was drifting to sleep, my holopad kept tilting out of my hands and my slowly drooped, eventually closing completely. I was exhausted and that peaceful dizziness of unstoppable encroaching sleep enveloped my mind, Garrus was right, sleep was just what I needed.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke to a chiming coming from the speakers around the suite. How long had I slept? Felt like awhile, I sat up and streched my arms up, blanket sliding gently off my breasts and down to my lap.

"Shepard here, cut the damn noise." I said grumpily.

"You requested a wake up call, I'm just the messenger... deliverying your message!" Garrus' voice responded, his aggravation clearly false.

I fell back onto the soft pillows, running my hands over my ribs, up my chest and into another stretch, "Well hurry up and deliver it."

There was no reply for half a minute... "Oh, sorry Shepard, forgot you were there. Joker, Samara, Jacob and Zaeed have an update for you. They're at the galaxy map right now."

I chuckled at his banter, "Thanks Garrus, Shepard out."

I rolled to the edge of the bed, which reminded me of my ribs happily and stood up. I walked over to where my clothing were. I had a few outfits, but my favorite was the Cerberous dress whites. I wasn't terribly happy to be wearing Cerberous attire, but the ships crew, my crew, were Cerberous and the outfit basically screams, 'Hey I'm in charge!' I also have a fondness for the Alliance dress blues and the Cerberous dress whites are a similar design. It was also nice to not have to don combat armor from time to time. Don't get me wrong, I love my combat armor and the fight, but it helped change things up wearing clothing.

After I was dressed and done inspecting the uniform, I put my shiny purple hair into a pony tail. Walking towards the elevator, I glanced over at my desk and saw a picture of Kaidan sitting there smiling. There was a moment of sadness thinking back to when that picture was taken, but it was breif. I held my hand out, a biotic bubble formed around it, then the picture. I clinched my hand closed as hard as I could and the picture exploded into bits of circuitry, LCD screen and metal, "I'll clean that up later!" I said angrily aloud.

As the elevator lowered to the main deck, I pondered why Cerberous engineers didn't improve on the original Normandy's design and make this thing go faster. I tapped my foot impatiently and the doors finally opened to the Galaxy map. Samara and Jacob were talking as the double checked their findings. The Galaxy map had a red line that hopped across a few of the systems. Currently there were two systems that had green circles around them.

Meanwhile joker was laughing as Zaeed told as story about a drunk Volus hitting on an Asari in a bar on Omega, "Then the Asari slaped him so hard with a warp bubble, he flew into a wall and his suit hoses popped out." Zaeed started laughing himself, "The Asari did my job for me, was gonna blast him with Jessie in the alleyway once he left the goddamn club!"

Joker's laughter died down, "Wait, she killed him?"

"She did!" Zaeed laughed harder, "And I got paid for it!"

I had started laughing at the end of Zaeeds story myself and it called to attention my precesnce to the rest of the crew.

"See, Shepard gets it! Joker, you're too serious." Zaeed said with a hearty laugh and almost slapped him on the shoulder playfully, but stopped just before making contact. I assumed he remembered Jokers condition.

"I don't even think you realize the irony of that statement." Joker said, a bit sore the joke was turned on him.

Zaeed raised his eyebrows, scrunching what his forehead almost cartoonishly, nodding, "Oh yes I do." None of this would be creepy to watch if you weren't witnessing one of the most prolific mercenaries of all time laughing and kidding around like a school boy. It was also a bit eerie how much I connected with his humour.

"Shepard," Samara's low, even voice broke through the mood, effectively nutralizing it, "We've discovered, with Zaeed and Jokers help, the location of our target. Zaeed is surprisingly astute at recognizing and connecting odd Mass Relay jumps."

Zaeed laughed and replied in his gruff londoner accent, "Why so surprised Asari? I hunt bastards across the galaxy for a living and, you may have heard, I'm prettty damn good at it."

"Indeed." Samara responded evenly, again neutralizing the baiting Zaeed was going for.

"Shepard, you can observe the work we've had to do yourself if you look at the galaxy map." Jacob sounded a bit impatiant, "The Dreadnaught made a series of blind jumps across the galaxy and has arrived in the worst place."

"THE HARSA SYSTEM!?" I blurted out in shock.

Joker started chuckling, "Well when she responds like that Jacob, maybe Sol isn't exactly as bad as the Batarian homeworld's system."

Jacob shrugged, unamused, "Regardless Commander, they're in Sol just outside of Neptune is where our Dreadnaught have put down roots."

"That's strange, why jump to Sol so quickly?"

"Because it turns out the bloody bastards were supposed to be there the whole time." Zaeed laughed, did he do a couple lines of red sand? He was awefully cheery. Not for me to judge, I enjoyed bourbon myself.

Samara pulled up a list of sound bytes, "We've recovered exchanged transmissions between the Dreadnaught and Alliance command."

My right eyebrow raised, "So how deep does this go? Is this trully as isolated as the Illusive Man suggested or does it go deeper?"

"From what we can tell Commander, this Op was local to the Dreadnaught itself." Jacob answered, he was looking over a holopad, " I know what you're thinking, someone higher has to be involved. You're right."

I walked over to Jacob's side and a very familar face was on the screen, "Vice Admiral Seon..." Seon was about 15 years older than me, but you couldn't tell by her outward appearance. The skin on her face barely had any wrinkles, short jet black hair framed her round face, high cheek bones made her South Korean ancestry proudly known. Seon's dark brown eyes though betrayed a lifetime of battle. She was a naval officer, so she wasn't scared physically from years of combat, but she saw plenty of it in the vaccum of space. All that said, I'm not entirely sure why she would organize an attack on me, unless her and Kaiden were a thing, but he was a bit low on the totem pole for that I would think. Anything is possible though and who knows what they had to gain, just because I didn't know doesn't mean there wasn't a good reason in their minds.

"Excellent work crew, I'm surprised how fast we could track them down, I'm sure they would be as well. This does make it more crucial that we get the smear campaign up and running before me make an attack, attacking an Alliance ship in Alliance territory never looks good." I pulled my dress white jacket down to smooth it out while thinking.

"Shepard, it's likely they'll be moving out to Citadel space or some other deployment zone shortly, we don't necessarily need to attack them in Alliance space." Jacob replied.

"Not always true, a Dreadnaught isn't considered a cruiser vessel." Joker chimed in, "It could be sitting there for an indefinite time unless a situation occured where we, ahem, they would need to deploy it. My point is, we don't know how long they'll be there."

"Exactly and I want to rain hell fire on them as soon as possible, so lets hope Mordin and the gang come up with some good stuff." I added.

"Well then Shepard, I have good news."


	6. Chapter 6

I turned to see Mordin, Kasumi and Thane exiting the lab, "While you slept 12 hours, we were able to gain access to all footage necessary to compile a..." Mordin grinned uncaharacteristically, "Very damning video."

"Thane and I constructed a narrative showing Kaiden attacking and attempting to kill not only an Alliance millitary hero, but Humanities first Spectre." Kasumi explained.

Thane nodded in agreement, a man of few words, but very deliberate action. While Grunt, Garrus and Jacob dismissed Assassins and their ability on the honor badge, I respected Thane. Even among allies, Thane always hovered near an escape route. He was currently standing at the perfect distance from the maintinance tunnel hatch... which shouldn't be, but was, already unlocked. Thane was also at an angle to view everyone surrounding him with no one behind him. I don't respect all Assassins and generally share Garrus' views, but Thane was different, Thane was a warrior.

"Well done. Samara," I turned to face the tracking team, "Now that we've found our hog, I would like for you all to come up with multiple ways to roast it. I want this to be a shock operation, hit hard and hit fast. We know at least two high profile targets are aboard, Kaiden and Vice Admiral Seon, see if we can get a few more. Oh and don't forget the apple." Then I turned to Mordin, "Mad Doctor, show me your propaganda."

Mordin blinked at me a few times, that strange Salarian vertical blink, "I can assure you Shepard, I am perfectly sane." Then Mordins head switched, just slightly... I couldn't decide if it was him being funny or not. My favorite salarian then turned and walked back into his lab.

I followed him, Kasumi and Thane behind me, and Mordin showed me the video they had compiled. It was an impressive collage, so impressive, it almost caused me to black out with rage. They were able to get enough footage to show him killing Jack and MIranda, then his failed attempt at killing me. They even had his spiel about me being fake just before I blasted him with Reave. The finale footage was something you couldn't buy with money, showing the Dreadnaught, from space, raining down an Ezo bombardment on the planet. There were words that blanketed the video, like "Traitors." "Thugs." and "Cowards."

Once I got my blood pressure back under control, something important dawned on me. Obviously I had always known my crew were dangerous and capable, but the last 30 minutes showed me I had some of the scariest people in the galaxy. Not only did I have a set of crew that tracked a Dreadnaughts Mass Relay hopping across the galaxy, I also had a set of crew that hacked the Alliance, pulled video from a wet works op and compiled a very impressive smear campaign in less than a day... my brain kept repeating the same thing, don't underestimate Salarians. I'll keep that as a mental note.

"I want this playing everywhere when we're ready, Earth, the Citadel, colonies, everywhere." I said to Mordin, with a giddy energy.

"That Shepard will prove more challenging than you might think." Kasumi chimed in clicking away at her Omni Tool.

"Don't worry Lacey," Mordin replied, eyes darting back and forth on his screen, never looking away from the monitor, "It's been too long since I've excersised my STG skills, I am having... fun? ... Yes fun."

"I am familiar with the Citadels communication systems as well as Illiums. I will begin getting into the back doors of heavily human populated areas." Thane then excited the room.

Kasumi while sauntering to the exit added, "I'll start working on big human colonies first, I have a few ideas of where to start."

"Probably better to stay in the same room, all resources combined, but not necessary." Mordin said absent mindedly, "That leaves me with Earth, a challenge, but great excersise."

"Since you're enjoying the steep challenge, I'll add one on you," I placed my hands on his desk and leaned towards him, he glanced up, "I want that video playing on that Dreadnaught."

Mording paushed and smiled, "Good idea, it will cause shock and panic. Probably paralyze operations momentarily. Would be a great time to strike." We agreed, "Now Lacey, if there was nothing else, I want to concentrate all my attention on the assignment at hand."

I stepped back and grinned, "Just remember to take some breaks."

"Rediculous suggestion." I heard him say as I walked out of the lab, "First, analyze weaknesses in broadcast security, then exploit. Need to find which channel would make the biggest impact... no, all channels. Yes, that would have maximum impac-" The door closed, cutting off his verbal thought process.

"Shepard!" Kelly exclaimed as she turned around to see me leaving Mordin's lab, she must have just started her duty because she was absent from the whole tracking meet up. She looked both excited and distraught. Her emerald eyes looked me up and down, "I'm so glad to see you're safe."

"Kelly, I've told you to call me Lacey." I replied smiling as I approached.

She smiled back and brushed her short red bangs from her eyes, "I respect you Shep-Lacey, so it is hard for me to speak to you informally." Her face then got a bit more serious, "I'm sorry about Miranda and Jack, both were strong and capable. I wish I could have spoken to Jack more."

"I wasn't personally close to them, but Miranda was a big part of my recovery, so I was in dept to her regardless of personal feelings. Jack was rough around the edges, she reminded me of myself when I was younger, the anger mostly." I frowned, "First and foremost though, they were my crew. It was my duty to watch over them, they died and I couldn't stop it." I felt my heart beating harder and my hand was clenched tight, "So I owe it to them to destroy those responsible."

It took a moment while as my anger surged, but I noticed Kelly's face begun to look concerned, finally she said, "Lacey, your eyes are glowing."

I glanced down at my hands and orbs of biotic energy was swirling around them. Typically when a biotic used their ability, their eyes flashed or glowed bright blue. My silver eyes glow purple, something about a rare mutation in biotics. The only important part is that mutation makes my abilities naturally more potent. I unclenched my hand and I felt the rush of my abilities calm.

"Lacey, I am a psychologist as well. Feel free to call me up anytime." Her voice was soothingly soft, owed to her specialty in psychogical practice.

I thought about giving an earnest response, I really did, but I couldn't help myself. I bit my lip gingerly, "You'd be willing to come up to my quarters all by yourself Chambers, just you and me?"

Kelly didn't answer immediately, but there was a slight widening of her eyes and momentary twitch of her eyebrow. After a few seconds, she finally replied, "Of... of course Lacey. Any, any time you need."

I grabbed her hand, which was pleasantly soft, and placed it against my chect gently, then said very softly, "Thank you Kelly, I really appreciate it."

I kept her hand there long enough to see her cheeks start turning red, which didn't take long, and smiled at her before releasing her hand, turning and walking into the elevator. Kelly was a sweet girl, a few years younger than me, and her admiration for me was a little deeper than just respecting my accomplishments. Every time we have spoken, I can tell there is an attraction and she was cute herself.

"Sometimes, it's fun to flirt with the idea." I thought to myself as a grin spread across my face, "Especially when I completely catch hert off gaurd."

After all that timely thought, I realized I was still slowly lowering to the deck below, "THIS DAMN ELEVATOR!"


	7. Chapter 7

When I finally reached the lower deck, the doors opened and I was greeted by the memorial of those who were lost when the first Normandy was destroyed. It was a nice touch Cerberus, but it still stung a little every time I saw it. Losing anyone under my command I take very personally, they are my responsibility. I also had some close friendships in that crew, it's not all business with Shepard... me. I walked around the memorial and saw a couple of the crew chatting in the lounge, effectively a fancy mess hall. Mess Sergeant Gardner was over prepairing some food, as usual.

Looking right to the med bay, I could see Karin talking to one of the crew. When I entered, the first thing I heard was, "Next time, use some lubrication."

"Yes Doctor, thank you for the treatment."

"Now go on." Dr. Chakwas said, he thanked her again and walked out.

As the door slid closed, I pointed my thumb over my shoulder, "Do I even want to know?"

Dr. Chakwas grabbed her holopad, sat down, crossed her legs and smiled, "Even if you wanted too, I wouldn't tell you, Doctor patient privacy."

I crossed my arms, "I don't think that exists if a commander is inquiring about the health of their crew Doctor."

"Are you up to date on Cerberus rules and regulations?" The Doctor set down her holopad and looked at me with an incredulous expression on her face.

I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck, "Cerberus has rules and regulations?"

"Do they?"

I shrugged exasperatedly, smiling, "Hell if I know Karin!"

Dr. Chakwas laughed and stood up, "It's good to have you back Lacey." Her expression was sligtly grave, "We were all worried about you. When that Dreadnaught appeared, my heart sank... I know you're tough Lacey, but that's a heavy hitter."

I smiled smugly, "And yet, I'm standing in front of you now."

Dr. Chakwas frowned at me, "I've been around combat soldier a long time Lacey. That statement was all false bravado."

I sighed, walked to a treatment bed and hopped up on it, wincing a bit... damn ribs, "I was there Doc, the gravity of that situation was not lost on me, but I am here and am ready to launch a scorched earth operation on those resposible." I began to unbutton my dress jacket, "But I've got some issues for you to look over."

Dr. Chakwas pressed a button that blacked out the windows and made the door a request entrance instead of an automated open. I stripped down to my skivvies and the doctor walked up with a tool she hovered over my ribs. Looking at them, they actually looked worse than before, but from my experience, injuries typically do. It didn't help that my skin was so light.

Basically the tool she was using had a screen on it where she could inspect bones and even organs through the skin. The screen faced up towards her, so I could see it as well. Ribs were definitely cracked, but without Reave being used, it would have been much worse. Dr. Chackwas looked over some of my other injuries, the scrapes, my head and the pink scars where I had been shot in my legs.

She was quiet the whole time, so I decided to say, "Is it terminal doc?"

Dr. Chackwas ignored me entirely, which I was a bit grumpy about. Finally she tapped a few buttons on the screen, "You're pretty banged up Lacey, but you'll be fine." She hesitated, "The bruising around your Ribs are consistent with much worse rib injuries, the Med Gel would've helped, but not that much."

"A nasty trick, a rare biotic move that I cast on Kaidan." I smiled in satisfaction, "Let's just say Kaidan paid his pound of flesh."

Dr. Chakwas suddenly stoped and looked at me, I forgot not everyone was briefed entirely on the attack. The normally rock solid doctor got glassy eyes, "Kaidan did this?"

My usual response was to let it slide off my back and just reduce my response to a one liner, but Kaidan and the Doctor had history. She was his Doctor on the original Normandy and was generally happy for us when we started a relationship. I stood up and started to get dressed, "Unfortunately... he doesn't believe that I am me." Wow, even after killing some of my crew and trying to kill me, it stung my emotions more than I wanted to admit, "So him and special task force set out to remove the 'fake' Shepard, humanities first Spectre and war hero."

Dr. Chakwas suddenly embraced me, "I am so sorry Lacey. He was so grief stricken when you died... he thought you were dead."

I hugged her back and tried to stop the tears that welled up in my eyes, "When I saw him on Horizon, he was shocked and in disbelief. I can't blame him for that, but killing Miranda and Jack, then trying to kill me." I took a deep breath to calm myself, "He was so cold, so convinced I wasn't me, I had just become a target to him."

Dr. Chakwas squeezed me tighter, which didn't feel too great on the freshly inspected ribs, then let go, a few streaks from her eyes down her cheek, "That is not the man we knew." She walked to her desk and leaned on it, "I understand what you need to do and why you plan to do it." She paused and hit the desk, "I just wish there was another way."

I finished putting on my pants and walked over to her, placing my hand on her shoulder, "Betrayal like this is always hard to fathom, but it happened. I wish it hadn't, but he was very sure I am not me. They won't stop, they may not know I'm alive, but they wanted to destroy the Normandy too." I pressed the button that unlocked the med bay and made the windows clear again, "They have to be stopped."

Dr. Chakwas let out a long shaky breath, "Of course Shepard." She stood up straight and looked out the windows to the crew, "Everything looks good, time and rest will take care of your current injuries... physical and mental."

"No rest for the wicked doc." I replied, with surprisingly sharp tone.

She turned to me and smiled weakly, "I know, but if you need to talk, feel free to stop by."

That hit me in the feels, "Of course."

There was a moment of silence between us, silent mourning for what had been, what was done and what yet needed to be done. I nodded to her, then turned and left the med bay.


	8. Chapter 8

After leaving the med bay, I needed a pick me up, so I bantered with some of the crew members and Mess Sergeant Gardener. We shared stories of our conquering's, both inside and out of the bedroom, and also what led to a military service. Things got a bit weird when they got to the whole species thing, because I firmly believe in cooperation with other species. While initially they objected, I argued that I do believe in cooperation, but only equal cooperation.

They may not have openly stated it, but I could see a few of the Cerberus crew members in thought while I argued my side. The remaining ones who were firmly Mankind first and only, I think were satisfied with my stance that we should be equals on the Galactic stage in the least. While I was not sympathetic to their view, I understood the fear. A lot had changed in less than a generation, and there was a pecking order between Citadel species. Many of those species were very open that Mankind had just arrived on the scene and didn't deserve it's meteoric rise in the Council pecking order.

Maybe we didn't, but Mankind for better or worse if nothing else, have been very stubborn where we sit on the food chain. We were Masters of our planet within ten thousand years of achieving social and evolutional significance and Masters of our Solar System shortly afterwards. Now we were making a huge push against species that had been on the galactic stage for well over 1000 years before us. That's probably why the Turians and Mankind butted heads so much, we are very similar in our approach and impact on the Galactic stage.

Speaking of Turians, a very handsome... and scarred Turian approached from the the cannon room. The attraction made my thoughts hiccup a moment. Garrus walked up and looked over the Cerberus crew, "Oh, I've got some stories like that if you want a new perspective."

Surprisingly the crew were open to it and he shared stories of his Turian military time and C-Sec days, but closed with a story about a previous Turian lover, "We had been at each others throats and they suggested we settle it in the ring. After nine rounds, judge called it a draw. There was a lot of unhappy grumbling in the training room. We uh," Garrus shook his head and smiled, 'decided to hold a tie breaker in her quarters. I had reach, but she had flexibility."

The Cerberus crew, men and women, went wild with 'Ows and Ahs'. Garrus soaked it in like a veteran soldier did, unabashed and flauntingly. I found myself... entertained by the story and once the ruckus settled down spoke up, "Great story!" I said embarrassingly fake, "We have some stuff to talk about regarding the up coming mission."

"Alright Commander, everyone duty calls." We departed the crew as they shared more stories more enthusiastically. While that hadn't been planned, having Garrus connect with the Cerberus crew through old war stories right after my debate was golden.

As we walked towards the elevator I joked, "So you had to take on a woman to meet your match hand to hand huh Garrus?"

Garrus smiled, "Well she and I were the best on the ship, so her being a female didn't really mean much."

I poked his armor at chest height, "I bet I'd put you to shame."

Garrus laughed, which made my cheeks very warm. As we entered the elevator, he said, "You are a supreme soldier Shepard, but hand to hand, no external armor, Turians can take a lot more damage."

I knew he meant no offence by it, but when he looked at my face, he knew he had made a mistake, "No offence Shepard..."

"Too late for that! You and me, hand to hand in the shuttle deck now!"

Garrus, trying to recover, said, "We need a judge."

As I hit the elevator button repeatedly, I replied, "Fine, get Grunt."

Garrus turned to me, looked like he was going to plead his case against it, but shook his head and smiled " If that's what you want."

Still pressing the down button repeatedly, I looked at him in his beady eyes, "You better believe it. Get Grunt and meet me in the shuttle bay!"

The elevator stopped at engine room level where Grunts room was, Garrus began walking out, but stopped and looked over his shoulder, "I hope this isn't just some desperate attempt to get your hands on me Lacey."

I put my hands on my hips, tilted my head with a playful smile, "Oh Garrus, I wanna put my hands all over you."

Garrus' face was bewildered as the elevator.

I pulled my hair back into a pony tail and started to stretch. Garrus apparently had a full body Turian sparring outfit, dark blue with strips of white, made of some sort of flexible material. I didn't have a full body sparring outfit, so I stood in my N7 under armor leotard. There was no mat, just the cold hard steel of the bulkhead beneath our feet. Grunt looked bored and even yawned as he cracked his fingers.

I turned to our Krogan judge, keeping Garrus in my peripherial, "Alright Grunt, Garrus explained the scoring to you. The difference, we go until there is a clear winner."

Garrus didn't look pleased, "Shepard, we have an important mission that is expected to take place soon. I don't think the whole 'Clear Winner' is a good idea."

Grunt made a displeased noise, "In my book clear winner means someone is dead. Shepard is agreeing to your soft Turian rules, just be thankful for that."

My Turian ally, turned opponent, looked at Grunt angrily. I wasn't entirely sure myself why I was reacting so harshly to Garrus, but I knew my mind was made up. No other female would be looked at in higher regard.

"Well if you're sure Shepard..."

"I am." I responded absent mindedly. It started when I was, for lack of better term, rescued after the Ezo bombardment. I wanted Garrus' attention or approval.

Go...

It was very weird for me, usually I didn't vie for a partners attention, they vied for mine. Now suddenly I have this overwhelming feeling of- did Grunt just say go?

My body reacted without conscious thought, because I blocked a kick headed to my rib cage while debating with myself. In the milliseconds after impact it took me to recognize what was happening, I was impressed with Garrus. We were allies, friends even, but in a fight he took advantage of his knowledge and he knew my ribs had been an agonizing injury I was still dealing with.

After coming to my senses, I glanced and saw Garrus looked a bit surprised before I wrapped my arms around his blocked leg strike and horse kicked him in the mid section. He tumbled backwards and rolled onto his feet, assuming a defensive stance on gaining his footing. I don't think he expected the speed of my follow up, because as Garrus gained his footing and assumed his stance, I already was following up with a running jump kick.

It connected with his chest causing the turian to fly off his feet and land on his back. I summersaulted into an Ax kick that didn't connect as Garrus rolled out of the way. Both of us jumped to our feet and faced off. There was definitely a new respect in Garrus' demeanor after the opening of our fight.

Grunt yawned, "Round one goes to Shepard. Big surprise, feel free to start the next round at any time."

Garrus growled in aggravation and moved forward quickly. I braced for his attacks and blocked several sharp elbows, but he delivered a surprising upper cut to my stomach, which definitely didn't feel good with cracked ribs. As I keeled over his fist, he tried to move into a grapple, but I slid out of his forearms before they locked and rolled vertically sideways. All this rolling around was a pain with my ribs, maybe it was a mistake to challenge Garrus now... oh well, I made a military career out of this stuff.

It only took Garrus a moment to recover, he reacted with a wild right hook, but I ducked it and got him with a leg sweep. The results were not what I expected as his 'knees' bent backwards, he stumbled, but recovered easily. I responded with a knee to his mid section and practically injured myself. While my under armor provided protection to my mid section, back and chest, from the shoulders of my arms and thighs of my legs down, it was bare skin. While Garrus didn't have any 'armor' on, a Turians natural body was much harder than that of most other humanoid like species.

Regardless of the toll, I was glad to see him buckle a bit and followed up with a round house to his face. The front pad of my food hit the left side of his face(unscarred side) and sent him stumbling. Feeling very confident now, I moved towards him quickly with a follow up strike. Now I'd like to say that went down without a hitch, but instead, I received a very bony foot to the chest. I never realized how strong a Garrus was until that moment, but I left my feet and travelled more than a few feet mid air to my back on steel bulkhead. I was pretty well rocked by that response and narcissistically worried about breasts.

As I tried to take in as much air per breath my body would allow, Garrus replied, "Had enough Shepard?"

With bruised ribs and now a very sore chest, being honest with myself, I was. That said, I started this and sheer pride forced me to continue. Still on my back, I responded as threateningly as I could, "You wish Turian."

Grunt, sounding a little annoyed, shouted out, "Round two goes to the scarred Turian."

I decided I was playing the wrong game. Garrus specifically said in his story he had reach, but the woman he was fighting had flexibility. I was flexible in my own right, but looking over the Turian structure, she probably had a lot more flexibility with those distinct ball joints. So I had to focus on speed. Garrus' donkey kick to my chest proved that he had strength and reach, but I had one advantage.

The next match started and I ran at him like a banshee. Leaping into the air, I collided with him hard, knees in his chest and hand grappled behind his neck. It totally caught him off guard and I brought him to the ground. I delivered a few none discriminant elbows to his face, then quickly shifted sideways and locked his very pointy elbow between my thighs, wrist gripped in both hands. I started locking in an arm bar and he grunted in pain, but then to my surprise, rolled onto his shoulder and onto his feet. I was now head towards the ground, arms and legs locked onto him.

He brought his upper body up and slammed me on the ground... injured ribs first. I sprawled out onto the steel deck, huffing in pain. Grunt, more irritated than before, responded, "Third round to Garrus."

Grunt was mad because I was his battlemaster and as such, should be able to defeat any foe in my way. He also referred to Garrus by name, which meant that Grunt may have gained a new respect for him. I slowly got to my feet, I was in trouble. My ribs were pulsating with pain and I was having trouble breathing. Sweat ran down my face and my cheeks were red from exertion. I had known Garrus was a dangerous foe, this fight just reinforced it. I wanted to give up, but I wasn't about to. This fight would only end with a decisive victory, one of us would eat our words.

I suddenly noticed a glaring opening that wasn't covered by battle armor as it usually would be, this was it. Either I executed my last ditch effort or I would be taken down. In my current state, I wouldn't last much longer, the ribs were too damaging. Garrus hesitated, but came at me full force. I ducked a few punch's, dodged a kick and took a left jab to the jaw. I responded with a kick to his thigh and punch to his nose. Garrus went for a face strike, but I grabbed his arm again. This time, I went as hard as I could and all but ran behind him, arm in hand.

I bent it upwards, jumped on his back, locking my thighs around his bent up right arm and hips. Then hooked my arm under his jaw and around his throat, locking it in with my left arm. I heard the satisfying gasp of airflow being cut off and tightened both my hips and arm lock. Garrus fell back words, landing on me. It hurt, but I applied more torque to the hold as we landed. He tried to grab at me with his left hand, grabbing my hair and pulling rather hard a few times, but he weakened as the grapple was applied longer.

Due to grapple placement, I could see his eyes flutter, his left arm released it's grip on my hair and his eyes closed. I peered over at Grunt, who looked a lot more excited and tense than he wanted to portray, as he roared in excitement, "TKO, Battlemaster Shepard wins!"

I released my hold on Garrus and laid back on the cold bulk head. Grunt ran over and effortlessly tossed Garrus off of me, then tossing me onto his shoulders. "Battlemaster Shepard retains her title!" It became apparent in that instant that this mutual fight had a lot more at stake for Grunt than I had ever thought to consider. If Garrus had won, he would be Grunts new battlemaster... Garrus should probably be happy with the outcome. Grunt probably would have immediately challenged Garrus in hand to hand combat. While Garrus is impressive, I wouldn't wish hand to hand combat with Grunt on anyone.

Grunt carried on cheering and shouting taunts about how no one messeswith clan Shepard for a few moments before I had to instruct him to put me down. He did so and smiled at me gleefully, "I am honored to be a part of your clan!"

I smiled and breathed heavily, "I am honored to have you as part of my clan buddy, thank you."

"Always." Grunt said very, very seriously.

I bent over and braced myself on my knees, engulfed in sweat and throbbing ribs, I was just happy the fight was over. Grunt not going haywire and attacking Garrus was just an unexpected plus.

"Battlemaster, Garrus is stirring." Grunt informed me, again with the name, well I'm glad he gained some respect from this fight.

I stood up straight, my ribs popped a few times and I walked over to him. His eyes were open and he was looking around a bit lost, which usually happens to someone who has been choked out. Finally his eyes focused on me, "Good fight Shepard, I've never had anyone use those techniques on my before." He said breathily, "I suspect I underestimated you."

I kneeled down, grabbed his hand and pulled him up to me and said very tauntingly, "You had reach, but I had speed." To which we both chuckled.


	9. Chapter 9

Grunt had stormed out of the bay happily, stopping only to say, "I want you to know Turian, if Battlemaster Shepard would have lost, I was next in line." He let out deep hearty laugh before entering that damned elevator.

Garrus, despite his winded breath, managed to quip, "Anytime big foot." Though he said it loudly, Grunt was out of ear shot, we both knew that.

"Don't say I haven't done you a favor." I smiled at him, catching my own breath.

"Come'on Commander, I clearly let you win so I didn't have to fight that monstrosity." Garrus managed a sly grin, after a moment of eye contact, we broke out laughing.

"Thanks for the sparing Shepard, you always manage to surprise me." Garrus said after he caught his breath, "You know my skin is a flesh and steel combination right?"

"Oh yeah, my knuckles feel it." I replied looking at them, bleeding a bit.

Garrus leaned against a shuttle, "You on the other hand felt so soft to the touch." He was starring up at the cieling, I felt my face flush a bit, then he continued, "I'm surprised you could even continue after one strike..."

"Oh really?" My eyes glowed deep purple.

"Calm down Shepard, I mean it as an endearment." He said holding his hands out in front of him. He pushed off the shuttle, "Turians and Krogans, we have a tough outter shell." He laughed, "Hitting a Krogan is like punching a rock." He stopped and starred at me, "Humans though, they are softer than Asari, not quite as squishy as Salarians, but Humans are willing to go to the matt." He shook his head, "I think that's why our species hates and respects each other, so damned stubborn."

I smiled, "Yeah? Shucks Garrus, that's mighty sweet of you to say to lil ol' me. I'm just so soft."

Garrus starred at me a bit perplexed, "Don't think I don't know why you wanted to fight suddenly."

I put my hands on my hips and leaned towards him, "Why's that?"

"You heard that story about me and the female Turian and got hot and bothered by it," Was my face warm? Garrus had set his hand on my shoulder, "You wanted to prove you were tougher than a Turian. It was all a power play."

I chuckled after a moment and pushed his hand off. Heading into the elevator, I ran my hands through my hair. Once inside, I turned to face Garrus who was still standing there, definitely confused, "Garrus, you have a lot to learn about human women."

Garrus raised his arms up and shrugged exaggeratedly as the elevator door closed.

I headed directly to my quarters and showered up in private. The hot water felt good on my newly re-tenderized ribs. Thinking over the situation, I was happy with it, but my tactical thnking thought it was a real dumb idea. I know Garrus is a tough SOB, hell, at this point, he's practically the Turian version of Shep-ME. Well, you know, a less good looking, not as hilarious Shepard.

I was already not in great shape and I get into a no holds bar fight right before I was storming an Alliance Dreadnaught.

Exiting the shower, I observed myself in the mirror for a moment, definitely a little more bruised than before. Everything else was looking slightly better. These ribs are going to be the death of me for sure. What would Dr. Chakwas think... 'Blah Blah Blah, your health, blah blah, stupid."

Yep, that's about what I thought too. Well can't turn back now. Freshly showered, I armored up again, at this point, I expected to be ready to warp in at any minute and make an example of Admiral Seon and her puppet. If you come for me or my crew, you reap what you sow. That stands true for any being that goes against me, Human's, Asari, Turian, Krogan, Slarian, Geth, Reaper and anything between. Wrong me and I will tear your heart out still beating and crush it in front of you.

"Edi, reach out to the team, we're done here."

I walked in, my warriors were waiting in the meeting room, "Are we ready?'

Mordin tapped his fingers together excitedly, "Shepard, we have all the video prepared and all the networks prepped to flood."

Jacob and Samara stepped forward, Zaeed remained leaning against the wall. Jacob nodded at Samara, "Shepard, we have a three pronged attack set up." He pressed a holographic button and a schematic of the Drednaught formed, three red arrows streamed over it as the Normandy flew over.

Samara explained, " The Normandy is much faster than any ship there. We will split into two teams. The Normandy will strike with the Thanix cannon, while two teams eject in shuttles while the choas insues. We will then crash here and here..." The red arrows moved again, " Both teams will insert themselves near XO and CO quarters, bypassing a vast majority of the ground troops stationed there."

Zaeed pushed in, tapping another button, a green cirlce appearing around the front half of the ship, "Most likely the Admiral and Kaiden will be in this area. With two teams, we can break up and find both of them quickly. The shuttles will remain and Normandy will pass over once our beacon is activated to retrieve us." Zaeed looked around and laughed, "If we're as good as we're supposed to be, then we can be in and out within 30 minutes tops. The vast majority of the ground troops will never even know we were there."

I looked around, most seemed indifferent, but I asked the Turian, "Garrus, do you think everything looks tip top?"

Garrus, didn't react immediately, but then peered at me, then the plans. After a few moments he nodded, "Commander, the plans are sound. With Mordin releasing the distraction footage minutes before, it will put the ships high command in emergency mode." He stepped forward, rewinding the Normandies shot at the Drednaught, "If we hit the back half of the Drednaught with our cannon, the entire ship will be in dissaray..." Garrus scrunched his face, "If Admiral Seon has grade A troops on board, the window of 20 minutes is most disireable. After the 20 minute window our chances of successful undetected escape drops from 100% to 50% by 25 minutes. At 30 minutes... we better be ready to face a sizable resistance." Garrus had the model repeat a few times, "If we miss the 20 minute window, Normandy would have to pass over at least twice more. More than twice, total destruction of Normandy increases 110%."

Jacob, Mordin, Samara and Zaeed both looked taken aback. While they had set up the plans, Garrus' very specific critiques had shocked them. After a few moments, Jacob stepped forward, "Garrus' review is sound. Our error of margin is 10 minutes. Any more than that, we need to be prepared for a full scale fire fight."

I looked at Garrus and smiled, "Excellent team, Jacob, Samara and Zaeed, do your best to stretch our margins and prepare for worst case scenarios. Update Joker ASAP on any and all expectations." I turned to Mordin, "Make sure your signal reaches as far as possible. The more stations and colonies reaching out to Alliance Command for clarification, the longer the choas ensues."

I turned to the back of the room, "Team, I believe that this can be done. We are the best the galaxy has to offer. No doubt this is a monuemental task, but our specialties and razor sharp execution is second to none." I turned towards them, "We will begin our approach shortly. Prepare personnel and team members, this will teach the system that if you try to stand in our way, only pain and destruction will follow."


End file.
